Large-format Color Printers

Training

Notes

Before printing, save your file as a PDF or Print to PDF. The drivers for these plotters are setup specifically to print PDF files!

Large-format Printers (a.k.a. plotters) only print 36 by any length. Therefore, do not set your width to 48 inches and expect the printer to print. Format your projects based on landscape or portrait so you do not have problems printing them.

It is important to note that the printers only print what you create. You are responsible for formatting your drawing so that you have desired results. The student is responsible for using sound judgment before sending a job to printer, paying close attention to how their file was setup and how they would like it to print (landscape or portrait).

Select the Printer you wish to print from using the drop down menu. Once selected click Properties

The Paper/Quality tab/window will appear. Under Paper Options select your document size using the drop down menu. If you do not see the size of your project, you will have to Click Custom and input a new custom size, for example: 36x52. Make sure you save the custom size and give it the name of your designated size "36x52". After you have saved it, select your custom size from the drop down menu.

Next, select the tab Features and locate the section Roll Options. Make sure nothing is checked as shown in the screen shot.

Next select the tab Color. Note: You should not have to change settings within this window. All Color Options should be set by default. Please use this screen shot as a guide to make sure your settings mirror these. If not, please make sure your settings mirror these before clicking OK . Click OK to continue.

You are almost done, locate the Page Handling category and make sure that "Choose paper source by PDF page size" is "unchecked" (It should be unchecked by default).

Next, uncheck or check Auto-Rotate and Center depending on how you formatted your drawing. For instance, using the screen shot below, you can see the picture in Print Preview is printing in portrait and looks to be confined in a small area. In this particular instance, unchecking Auto Rotate and Center will not yield desired results.

This screenshot shows the same image but with Auto-Rotate and Center selected, it formats the picture to print correctly based on how the drawing was created.